New Delhi: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested key accused from Jharkhand who allegedly stole NEET-UG question paper from the National Testing Agency’s (NTA) trunk.
His associate who helped him in stealing the paper was also arrested by the CBI from Hazaribagh.
With the two arrests, the total number of persons arrested in connection with cases pertaining to leakage, impersonation and other irregularities in the medical entrance exam has now reached 14, the officials told news agency PTI.
The agency has arrested Pankaj Kumar alias Aditya, a 2017-batch civil engineer from the National Institute of Technology Jamshedpur, who allegedly stole the NEET-UG paper from the NTA trunk in Hazaribagh, the officials said.
Kumar, a resident of Bokaro, was arrested from Patna, they said.
The CBI has also arrested one Raju Singh who allegedly helped Kumar in stealing the paper and passing them on to other gang members, they said, adding that Singh was arrested from Hazaribagh.
After the huge nationwide uproar following paper leaks, the national investigation agency launched a massive crackdown on those involved in the paper leak.
A few days ago, the CBI made a significant breakthrough in the case as it arrested Rakesh Ranjan alias Rocky, the alleged mastermind behind the paper leak scam, in Patna’s Kanti Factory Road.
Last Thursday, he was produced in the special CBI court that remanded him in 10-day custody of the probe agency.
Rocky, a resident of Nalanda district, is accused of obtaining the leaked NEET question paper, solving it, and circulating the answers to MBBS aspirants.
He allegedly arranged for solvers, including MBBS students from Patna and Ranchi, to assist in the cheating racket. He was found to be physically managing the operations of the paper solver gang. The CBI had been tracking Rocky’s movements for several days before making the arrest.
Rocky’s name came to light after his connection with the alleged mastermind behind the medical entrance exam, Sanjiv Mukhia, was revealed during the investigation by the Economic Offences Unit (EOU) of the state police.
According to a top EOU source, Rocky was using digital technology to manage and conduct the paper leaks of competitive examinations. “He was also arrested on the basis of digital and technical evidence. He had arranged for doctors and MBBS aspirants to solve the question papers at a hotel in Ranchi. He had given a smartphone to Baldev Kumar alias Chintu, who circulated the question and solved answer keys to the NEET aspirants at a school at Khemnichak in Patna on May 4, a day before the exam,” the source added.
An EOU official said Rocky was the first person to receive the leaked question papers. Rocky sent the solved answer sheet in PDF format a day before the exam to Chintu’s cellphone, he said. “Rocky and other accused like Mukhia have invested a lot in property in Jharkhand. The state has been made a base for their illegal business,” the source added.
“Rocky was arrested in 2017, following the arrest of four persons in Patna, while trying to click the photographs of NEET question papers in a van carrying them to Christ Church School centre. Those arrested included Shiv Kumar, son of Mukhia, Shivam Mandal (Khagaul, Patna), law student Avinash Roshan and driver Sanjay Yadav. The arrest was made by then Patna SSP Manu Maharaj from Exhibition Road in Patna. Rocky had been to jail for three years and was later released on bail around one-and-a-half years ago,” said an EOU official.
